Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe on the future of virtual reality

This week our Reader Discussion is surrounding the controversial subject of Virtual Reality.

Oculus VR announced a US$599 retail price for the first generation of its consumer-grade Oculus Rift virtual reality headset on January 6. Several different VR headsets have been on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, many set for releases this year. According to Oculus, the plan was always to make sure that it fit within the $1,500 bracket for PC and headset. That’s compared to $660 million in 2015, when very little hardware, software and accessories were available. The game is developed by Playful and published by Oculus Studios.

A research by Accenture published by Time stated that CES 2016 will witness 80 percent more exhibitors than the CES 2015 for virtual reality. Motion sickness could be a barrier to uptake, as could the potential for the immersion levels to leave footprints on the brain. Created to be a VR, location-based shopping companion, it will provide an immersive, 3D environment where customers can shop context-based local offers.

“We have seen mobile grow from zero to 90 percent of our revenue in just under three years”, said Christian Gaiser, CEO of Retale, in a statement.

“It’s basically the first professional-grade camera for virtual reality”.

“PC VR is most likely going to be a smaller category of enthusiasts and gamers than broad mobile VR”, Iribe said.

However if you’re so inclined, you could see what kind of specs the PC has and try to emulate that for yourself, potentially at a lower price. “You’re seeing things in architecture and simulation, medical, automotive, a lot of even creation and art and design is happening now”. One of Facebook’s pending VR competitors – Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) with its augmented reality wonder HoloLens – also reported shipping delays for its newest Surface Pro line-up. “How does that change the way humans interact, function as a society?” says Professor Jeremy Bailenson, of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. “So as VR technology evolves and we’re able to have sort of this conversation nearly as if we were face-to-face in VR and have all these people here feel like they’re right here in person experiencing it with us, that’s where VR is gonna head very quickly”.

The Guardian finishes trying to answer its own question by looking at the moral implications of using a VR headset. At last, the future has arrived. But the answers are coming.

Click the media player above to hear Molly Wood in conversation with Kai Ryssdal.